Postage-stamp or envelope moistener



(No Model.)

J. WALSH. V POSTAGE STAMP 0R ENVELOPE MOISTENER; No. 505,495. Patente slgSgpt. 26, 1893;

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN B. WALSH, OF WAPAKONETA, OHIO.

POSTAGE-STAMP OR ENVELOPE MOISTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 505,495, dated September 26, 1893.

Application filed May 8, 1893. Serial No. 473,437. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN B. W'ALSH, acitizen of the United States, residing at Wapakoneta, in the county of Auglaize and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Postage- Stamp or Envelope Moistener, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices for moistening stamps and envelopes, labels, and the like, and has for its object to obviate the disagreeable nuisance of moistening stamps, envelopes, and labels with the lips and tongue, and to provide a simple and convenient apparatus for the said purpose that is of such construction as to avoid the necessity of frequent replenishing with Water, and at all times insure a thorough and practicable feeding of the water from the reservoir to a contacting surface.

With these and other objects in View, the invention consists of the construction and arrangement of the parts thereof as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device embodying the invention in one form thereof. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is a sectional View of the bottom part of the frame, showing a drip attachment applied thereto. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of the delivery pad. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional View, illustrating the manner of attaching the drippan to the tank.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

The form of the device as herein shown may be changed or varied at will, and the size and capacity of the same increased or decreased to adapt the device for the use of postmasters, banks, business houses, hotels, or private use, and in such change the parts will all be within the scopeof the invention.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates a frame, which, as shown, consists of a rectangular box 2, that is vertically disposed and supplied with a hinged lid or cover 3, having a suitable hasp or other fastening 4, and this box serves as a tank in which the water is placed. To the bottom of the said box is connected, or otherwise attached, a horizontal extension or compartment 5, having an upper beveled 'side 6, with an opening 7 therein. The upper and lower ends of the frame are supplied with fastening ears or brackets 8, by which the device may be conveniently held against a suitable support. The bottom of the box 2 is inclined rearwardly to preserve as great a capacity in a small structure asis possible,and rising therefrom is a tube 9, in whichis mounted a wick 10,th1e said wick being of less dimension than the said tube to facilitate the capillary action of the said wick, and also to permit water to freely flow downwardly through the tube if desired. The lower end of the said wick 10 is extended some distance from the bottom of the tube 9, and intermingled with a quantity of raw-cotton 11, or other analogous material, which is located in the rear part of the compartment 5. In front of the said cotton, or other material, 11 is located the delivering pad 12, which consists of an outer felt covering 13, having a sponge 14, or other article, inclosed therein and exposed through the opening 7, to be conveniently engaged by the fingers of the hand, the flap of an envelope, or a postage stamp. The said pad receives its moisture from the cotton or other material 11, and the latter is employed to obviate a too free delivery of the moisture from the reservoir, by means of the wick, as its soggy nature when wet will obviate inconveniences that would arise from a too free delivery of the moisture from the pad. The said pad is held in position and prevented from being pressed backwardly into the compartment 5, when contacted with by exterior pressure, by a downwardly-extending partition 15, at the upper part of the said compartment and which is an extension of the front of the box 2.

The device, as thus far described, is simple in its nature, and it will be understood that the delivery pad, being a well-known expedient, may be replaced by a sponge and other equivalent materials and arrangements may be substituted for those shown proportionate to and in accord with the character of the several uses to which the device may be applied. In either instance the sponges orpads, as the case may be, are kept moist by contact with the absorbent cotton, and the cotton is furnished with moisture from the wick. In construction the tube is simply soldered to the bottom of the material of the reservoir and is made larger than the wick with which it is intended to be used. When the water is first put into the reservoir a sufficient quantity is employed to fill said reservoir to the upper rim of the tube, so that it may run down the said tube to a limited degree, and thereby start the device in operation and encourage the action of the Wick. As previously stated, the size of the wick materially affects the quantity of moisture fed downwardly through the tube.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 5, a drip attachment 16 is attached to the bottom of the frame, that is in the form of a receptacle having a front flange 17. that extends beyond the frame at the bottom to thereby permit any water that may overflow or run down the frame to pass into the said drip attachment with evident advantages.

In order to secure the moistening pad in position, it is supplied with front and back plates 18 and 19,-having lower hooked ends 20 and 21, the hook of the back plate engaging the partition 15, and the hook 21 on the front plate the front flange 22 of the compartment. To release the pad it is first pressed backwardly to disengage the same from the front of the compartment and to allow the said front part thereof to be raised in order to disconnect the hook of the back plate from the partition 15. It will also be understood that the metal employed in the construction of this device will be preferably of a non-corrosive nature.

The drip pan or attachment is detachably secured to the frame, which is provided on opposite sides of its bottom with ways 23 to be engaged by flanges 24E of the drip pan or attachment.

Changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new isp 1. In a stamp and envelope moistener, the combination of a tank or reservoir having a tube therein, a compartment below said tank or reservoir, a wick mounted in said tube and smaller than the same, a quantity of absorbent cotton in the rear part of the compartment with which the lower end of the wick engages, and a delivery pad located in and exposed in the front part of said compartment and supplied with a felt covering that contacts with the said cotton, substantially as described.

2. In a stamp and envelope moistener, the combination of a frame comprising a vertically-disposed box with an upper hinged lid or cover and a lower inclined bottom to form a reservoir, a tube rising vertically through the said reservoir, a compartment below the said reservoir having an upper inclined side with an opening therein, and a partition extending into the same, a wick mounted in said tube and of less dimension than the latter, a quantity of absorbent cotton in the rear part of said compartment and engaged by the said wick, and a delivery pad in the front part of said compartment consisting of an outer felt covering with a filling therein that is exposed through the opening of the said compartment, the bottom of said frame being supplied with a drip attachment, substan tially as described.

3. In a stamp and envelope moistener, the combination of a tank or reservoir having a tube therein, a compartment below said tank or reservoir, a-wick mounted in said tube and smaller than the same, a quantity of absorbent cotton in the rear part of the compartment with which the lower end of the wick engages, said compartment having a partition extending thereinto, and a delivery moistening pad exposed in the front part of said compartment and having front and back hooks that respectively engage the front portion of said compartment and the said partition, substantially as described.

4:. In a stamp and envelope moistener, the combination of a tank or reservoir having an outward extension provided with an open top, and a removable delivery pad arranged within the extension and conforming to the configuration thereof and filling the same and provided with hooks for detachably securing it in place, substantially as described.

5. In a stamp and envelope moistener, the

combination of a tank provided with an outward extension having an open top, and provided at the back with a depending partition and having at its front a depending flange, and a removable delivery pad arranged within the extension of the tank or reservoir and provided at its front and back with hooks detachably engaging the partition and the flange, substantially as described.

6. In a stamp and envelope moistener, the combination of a tank or reservoir having an extension provided with an open top, a delivery pad arranged in the extension, and a removable drip-pan secured to the bottom of the tank or reservoir and conforming to the configuration thereof and extending beyond the front of the same and arranged to receive the overflow, substantially as described.

7. In a stamp and envelope moistener, the combination of a tank or reservoir provided on its bottom with ways and having a forward or outward extension with an open top, a delivery pad arranged within the extension,

and a drip-pan provided with flanges arranged in the ways, said drip-pan projecting beyond the tank or reservoir to receive the overflow, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN B. WALSH.

Witnesses:

R. U. HASTINGS, R. B. ANDERSON. 

